The Role of Shear in the Morning Transition Boundary Layer

Abstract

We use large-eddy simulation (LES) to better define the early stages of the morning transition boundary layer. Previous LES studies relating to the morning transition boundary layer focus on the role of the entraining convective boundary layer (CBL). By using a combination of different domain sizes and grid lengths, the full evolution from the stable boundary layer (SBL) to the CBL is modelled here. In the early stages of the morning transition the boundary layer is shown to be a combination of a shallow mixed layer capped by a significant shear driven stable boundary layer (the so-called mixed CBL–SBL state). The mixed CBL–SBL state is the key to understanding the sensitivity to shear. Turbulent kinetic energy budgets also indicate that it is shear driven. The negative flux from the mixed CBL–SBL state extends much further above the minimum than is typically found for the CBL later in the day, and the depth of penetration scales as w _m /N _i , where w _m is the combined friction and convective velocity scale and N _i the static stability at the inversion top.